Edward C. Greenberg I am Mr. Wolf's attorney referenced in your article. Unlike other reporters you elected not to reach out to our office. Your failure to do so has resulted in an extraordinarily misleading article and one which portrays a selfless act and turns into one of apparent greed.

First off, your viewers/readers ought to have been informed that such behemoth corporations such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, NY Daily News,The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The LA Times and Fox News among countless other photographers and companies have earned substantial fees and benefited mightily for themselves as a result of their illegally infringing upon Mr. Wolf's Constitutionally protected right to his registeredCopyright. ution. None have offered to contribute a dime to charity although requested to do so. They escape your scrutiny. Mr. Wolf retained this office to raise money to donate to charity based in large measure on two factors:

1. He has the full support of the Green family; and 2. This office represented Stuart Gross the photographer whose images of abused child/ murder victim Lisa Steinberg, served to convict Mr. Steinberg of manslaughter and send him to prison for over 18 years.

Enormous sums of money were raised through litigation when Mr. Gross' heartbreaking images were similarly stolen by major news sources. The monies raised by us via litigation and settlements were donated to the Foundling Hospital here in NY. The Foundling Hospital ran a crisis nursery for the protection of abused and battered children. My wife served as a volunteer there. This special facility was run by the now deceased Dr. Vincent Fontana then the leading expert on child abuse in America and the Archdiocese of New York. Largely as a result of our efforts, the reporting of acts of child abuse by teachers has become mandatory in virtually every state of the union. Untold thousands of children were helped at the hospital and continue to be helped as a result of the funds generated and the awareness raised by Mr. Gross' efforts.

The complaint in this matter will be a public record as of tomorrow afternoon. Rather than contact the source, you obtained the "opinion" of an attorney who has commented on unknown and unknowable facts and circumstances. Significant settlements have already been made which have generated thousands of dollars which will go to local charities thanks to Mr. Wolf. Your article ignores the fact that the Green family is very supportive of these efforts and fails to criticize in the slightest those who violated the law, stole Mr. Wolf's images for their sole economic gain or as most fair minded people would call it, "simple corporate greed".

We have represented photographers in similar situations before. They (and I) have selflessly donated funds generated by the outright theft of their work to appropriate charities. Never have we seen such a reaction to such altruism in the press as displayed in your article. You have sanctified the guilty and demonized the Good Samaritan.

Ha. Someone finally trying to make newspapers pay up for using their image. Now, if only the people shown in all the news photos that end up in papers' advertisements would start asking for their cut. I'm surprised Alabama hasn't tried to get paid for all the football photos the TN uses to sell papers.

alwaysannoyed wrote:Ha. Someone finally trying to make newspapers pay up for using their image. Now, if only the people shown in all the news photos that end up in papers' advertisements would start asking for their cut. I'm surprised Alabama hasn't tried to get paid for all the football photos the TN uses to sell papers.

Excerpts: [emphasis added]The policy, distributed to member schools Thursday and obtained by The Tuscaloosa News on Friday, also places restrictions on TV broadcasts, limiting news stations to clips of no longer than three minutes and allowing highlights for only 72 hours after the conclusion of a game.

Charles Bloom, associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, said the intent of the new restrictions is to protect an agreement between the SEC and XOS Technologies, which last month was announced as the host of the SEC Digital Network.

Certain exceptions will be granted to the schools themselves as well as those who have paid for specific rights, such as ESPN and CBS, which together have paid the SEC more than $3 billion to broadcast games for the next 15 years.

But these new rules will affect local news outlets across the region, some of which have been following SEC athletics for decades.

Chris Rattey, new media director for The Tuscaloosa News and TideSports.com, said “monopoly” was the first word that occurred to him when he heard about the SEC’s new rules.

“As a Southeastern Conference member institution, we are bound by the policy we received this week from the SEC Office,” said Doug Walker, the University of Alabama’s associate athletics director for media relations. “We will work closely with those who cover us — as well as with the SEC Office — in dealing with any issues that may arise.”

From a legal standpoint, the SEC is balancing between solid, precedent-based ideas and the unknown, grey areas of untrodden legal ground.

“We believe that the new policy is an arbitrary attempt to limit independent news reporting on SEC sporting events and ultimately to restrict the coverage that SEC fans have long enjoyed and have every right to expect as supporters of SEC teams and taxpayers financing SEC institutions,” said David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the New York Times Co., owner of the The Tuscaloosa News.

Enforcing the rules, however, is another matter.

For example, the new SEC rules also place restrictions on what ticket-holders can do while at the game.

A summary printed on the back of each ticket (likely starting next year with football, since tickets for this season already have been distributed) forbids fans from taking photographs or sharing accounts or descriptions of the event.

Chris Rattey, new media director for The Tuscaloosa News and TideSports.com, said “monopoly” was the first word that occurred to him when he heard about the SEC’s new rules.

“As a Southeastern Conference member institution, we are bound by the policy we received this week from the SEC Office,” said Doug Walker, the University of Alabama’s associate athletics director for media relations. “We will work closely with those who cover us — as well as with the SEC Office — in dealing with any issues that may arise.”

From a legal standpoint, the SEC is balancing between solid, precedent-based ideas and the unknown, grey areas of untrodden legal ground.

“We believe that the new policy is an arbitrary attempt to limit independent news reporting on SEC sporting events and ultimately to restrict the coverage that SEC fans have long enjoyed and have every right to expect as supporters of SEC teams and taxpayers financing SEC institutions,” said David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the New York Times Co., owner of the The Tuscaloosa News.

Wow, so Tuscaloosa ews corporate types are saying that they'll adhere to the policy no matter how unfair it is. Way to bite the hand that feeds you, guys.